Page 158 of Roulette: The Madam

“Cold. Organs missing by now. Somewhere being preserved for a celebration of his life and death, I suppose.”

“Sounds delightful. Your safety?”

“Secure. Made the entire thing give the impression of a rival’s retaliation or attempt to end their competition once and for all. Most will rejoice. Only some will dig deeper. There’s nothing they’ll find that’ll lead them back to me or back to her.”

“So, you have his supply?”

“And money. I don’t care for either.”

“Give it to her–the money.”

That was the plan. However, she was in trouble at the moment. She wouldn’t touch a dollar until I was ready for her to.

“The Handlercan clean it and make sure it doesn’t trace back to either of you. As for the cocaine?”

I lowered my body to lift the gate of the storage. Piled to the ceiling in the ten by twenty unit was bricks.All white bricks.

A whistle escaped The Chemist’s frame. Fairly impressed with the contents of the storage, he nodded.

“And you’re sure you don’t have any use for this? You’re sitting on nearly a billion dollars broken down, here.”

“Then buy them, because I have no interest in selling them to anyone else. I’m retired.”

“I’m no drug dealer, Israel.”

“But you’re a Chemist.”

“I am.”

“And these are your test subjects.”

“I’ll be testing until they day I die with all of th–”

“Do you want the bricks?”

“I do. In fact. While I’m not at liberty to have them all to myself. I know someone who knows exactly what to do with them.”

“Give him a call. He can have these motherfuckers right now.”

He placed a finger in the air and retrieved his cell. There were a few taps on the screen before he placed it up to his ear. Within seconds, he’d received an answer.

“Kofi,” he greeted the caller on the other line, “Your brother is on vacation with his wife. I need you to get Killian and your biggest cage. Some birds have gotten loose. They need you.”

He ended the call and stepped forward. Instead of extending his hand, he pulled me in for a hug. “Welcome to the family.”

As quickly as he’d come, he was leaving. Before he stepped up and into the Yukon, he turned around, staring at me from the short distance.

“Do right by her. And, stand your ground. That girl will run you into the nut house if you let her.”

“Say less.”

SEVENTEEN

Missing a man was never on my agenda, but it seemed as though the plans had changed. Every waking second, I was missing him. His voice. His smile. His laughter. His touch. His tongue. His dick.

My period had come and it had gone. It left me craving Israel’s presence even more than I already was. Two weeks away from him felt more like torture than punishment. My attempts to communicate were met with voicemails andreadnotifications. His absence was frustrating.

And so was Malaya’s. Though I’d heard her voice a hundred times over the last two weeks, it wasn’t the same as seeing her inperson, girl time in the bathroom, or movie night in bed on the weekends.

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